{"id":5388,"date":"2018-05-14T10:47:17","date_gmt":"2018-05-14T15:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=5388"},"modified":"2018-05-14T10:47:17","modified_gmt":"2018-05-14T15:47:17","slug":"the-gospel-according-to-buddha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2018\/05\/the-gospel-according-to-buddha\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel According to Buddha"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI\u2019m the most Buddhist person I know.\u201d
\nA college student said this to me, and I knew in my heart I had chosen the wrong person to share Jesus with.
\n\u201cI\u2019m the most Buddhist person I know,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, my friends and family, who are all Buddhist, always say to me, \u2018Hey! Could you stop being so Buddhist all the time?\u2019\u201d
\nThis was one of my first times trying \u201crandom evangelism\u201d<\/strong> .\u00a0.\u00a0. in other words, walking up to a stranger and trying to nonchalantly talk about the most deep, personal, and intimate topics imaginable, breaking all sorts of cultural taboos and making me feel like a colossal crazy person.
\nIt was an assignment as part of my training as a missionary. I had a whole script to use, and a tract, and here\u2019s the thing: It wasn\u2019t contextualized, not really. It was full of Christian lingo, and while it was vaguely targeted at college students, it wasn\u2019t targeted at an Asian American Buddhist college student. The message had not been translated for him.
\n\"\"
\nI had used this amazing icebreaker question: \u201cHey, would you like to talk about spiritual things for a few minutes?\u201d (Feel free to use that any time.)
\nAnd it worked. Remember, when we communicate the good news we are participating with the Holy Spirit.<\/strong> We are coworkers with God. I\u2019ve used so many terrible sentences to start a conversation, but God empowers them.
\nHe said he would love to have a spiritual conversation, and he pushed his homework aside and gave me his whole attention. Then he said something, \u201cI\u2019m the most Buddhist person I know.\u201d
\nMy heart sank. What I thought would be a pretty easy, \u201ctypical\u201d conversation about Jesus became my worst nightmare: a comparative-religion argument. Best case scenario: The guy listens politely and decides Jesus was a good teacher. Worst case: I don\u2019t know. I become Buddhist?
\nI decided, instead of entering an argument, to ask him what he liked so much about the Buddha.<\/strong> If he liked the Buddha more than even his Buddhist family, I knew he was devout and there must be something special there.
\nHe loved the Buddha a lot. He shared some of the beautiful ideas and teachings with me, and I listened to him for a while, just getting an appreciation of this guy and what he loved about his own religion.
\nThen he said, \u201cThere\u2019s just one thing that bothers me.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d I asked.
\n\u201cThe Buddha said he wasn\u2019t a god, and we shouldn\u2019t worship him. But, honestly, most Buddhists, that\u2019s what we do. We worship him. I wish someone would come along and say, \u2018I am God; you should worship me.\u2019\u201d
\nA shocked silence followed. Finally, I managed to say, \u201cHey, I know a guy.\u201d<\/strong>
\nHis eyes lit up, and he eagerly listened as I told him the story of the great teacher, Jesus, who was in many ways like the Buddha, with the big, big difference that he claimed to be God. When I reached the end of explaining the good news about Jesus, God-with-us, who died and rose again so we could be in relationship with God, I asked him, \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d
\nHe looked at me and said, \u201cI guess I\u2019m a Christian now.\u201d
\nIt was a strange moment, as we bowed our heads together and he prayed for God\u2019s forgiveness, accepted Christ as his Savior, and became a follower of Jesus. Strange because he came into the presence of God not through the tract in my hand, not because I had a fight about Buddhism, not because of my clever arguments, but because the teachings of the Buddha brought spiritual truth that led him to the person of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Read: The Gospel According to God<\/em><\/a><\/h4>\n

I\u2019m not suggesting, by the way, that approaching strangers with the teachings of the Buddha is the best way to share the gospel. However, if someone is already a follower of the Buddha, it\u2019s possible the Holy Spirit, the perfect communicator, has already started using the familiar terms, ideas, thoughts, and beliefs of Buddhism to insert truths about God into someone\u2019s life. This is not to say that \u201call roads lead to God\u201d\u2014Jesus is clear that \u201cno one comes to the Father but through me\u201d (John 14:6). No, this is just a reminder that God is the sort of shepherd who goes out to find his sheep.<\/strong> He doesn\u2019t just stand near the sheep pen and shout until his little lambs come to him.
\nNow, in my story, I didn\u2019t have to learn a whole lot about Buddhism or the Buddha to be able to share. My new friend was ready for a message about God because of something that bothered him about the Buddha. But I know people who do lots of evangelism among their Buddhist friends, and they would say that there are great places to share Jesus from the teachings of the Buddha.
\nThat sounds a little crazy, I know. We\u2019re going to spend this whole chapter talking about how that might work. But before we do, let me share three quotes from the Buddha, and you think about whether you might be able to find a bridge from the words of the Buddha to the words of Jesus.<\/p>\n